Mutton-Eaten-with-Hands

Mutton-Eaten-with-Hands is a famous local delicacy of the Qinghai grasslands. It is not only a restaurant dish but also the staple food of the herdsmen.

Although the mutton does not need to be cut or fried, this dish still has a special color, fragrance, taste and form. When you visit the grasslands in the autumn, the hospitable herdsmen will pick a fat sheep for you, kill it in large chunks, and in about half an hour, the lamb will be ready to eat.

With lamb in one hand and a knife in the other, cutting as you eat, you will surely find this tasty dish different from all others.

The pity is that mutton-eaten-with-hands as a restaurant dish has lost much of its original flavor. If you want to taste real mutton-eaten-with-hands you are always welcome to visit a herdsman’s home on grasslands.

Zanba and Milk Tea

Tibetan’s home of Xining, you will have a chance to taste the buttered Zanba and milk tea. Milk tea is a concoction boiled in a pot or kettle. Refreshing and quenching, its main ingredients are mild, tea and salt.

Whenever you enter a tent on the grasslands, no matter where you come from, you will be offered a hot bowl of fragrant milk tea.

Zanba is the Tibetan word for “flour sauted in butter.” It is made from milk tea, sauted barley flour, golden butter, milky white “qula” and sugar.

Yoghurt

Yogurt is a snack you can find on every street corner. With its sweet and sour taste, yogurt makes a nutritious summer drink. Usually yogurt you see in Xining is filled in small bowls, which are stacked with a piece of glass on each storey. You can require some sugar on yogurt to your own taste. It costs only RMB1.2yuanfor a little bowl .

Niangpi